Serbian court receives no appeal against extradition of Karadzic

BELGRADE, July 29 (Xinhua) -- Serbia's Belgrade District Court received no appeal against the extradition of former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic to the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague by the end of office hours on Tuesday, a court spokeswoman said.

"Considering the fact that an appeal did not arrive, the court didn't make any decision," the court's spokeswoman Ivana Ramic told reporters in Belgrade.

The 63-year-old Karadzic, who was arrested in Belgrade on July 21, was indicted for genocide during the 1992-95 Bosnian war by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).

Ramic said that the deadline for submitting an appeal had expired on July 25.

Considering that the deadline was followed by a weekend, the court is obliged to wait for a reasonable period of time for an appeal to arrive by mail so that it can be considered, Ramic said.

Goran Petronijevic, a new attorney for the wartime Bosnian Serb leader, said earlier on Tuesday that legal conditions for Karadzic's transfer to The Hague had not been met yet because the court had not decided on the appeal.

However, he could not say if an appeal had been filed at all, saying that he did not take part in the appeals proceedings.

Karadzic's attorneys previously declined to say if they had filed an appeal, saying that they were buying time for their client.

Dusan Ignjatovic, a Serbian government official in charge of cooperation with the Hague tribunal, said Tuesday that Karadzic could be transferred to The Hague by the end of the week. Ignjatovic said he believed that no appeal had been filed at all.

Once it receives an appeal, the Belgrade District Court has three days to decide on it. The final decision on the extradition is signed by the Justice Ministry.